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ROCKVILLE, Md. — After the nationwide unemployment rate peaked above 10% in late 2009, we saw a fairly rapid decline in jobless rolls during the next 12 months. By March of this year, the headline jobless number had crept back under 9% and renewed optimism in the economic recovery and equity markets.
Jeff Reeves is editor of InvestorPlace.com.
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Well, we’ve been reading a much different story in the last month or two, with disappointing job creation and a rise in the overall unemployment rate as the meager number of new positions can’t keep up with the sheer volume of folks looking for work.
To make matters worse, we are now seeing a disturbing new spate of layoff announcements — not just a dozen or so workers here and there, but pink slips issued by the thousands at some of the biggest blue chips on Wall Street. Read about 6,500 jobs cut at Cisco.
In short, there aren’t enough jobs to go around now and there will be even fewer jobs a few months down the road. All this points to significantly higher unemployment in the near future, possibly over the 10% mark.
So where will the biggest damage be done? I think these three sectors top the list:
Financial sector layoffs
At the end of June, Goldman Sachs GS +1.77% warned that 230 jobs could be on the chopping block between late September and March 31, 2012. But Goldman’s labor pool should consider itself lucky. Barclays BCS +9.65% announced it will lay off “several hundred” workers this month in addition to the 600 that already were laid off in January. And perhaps most jarring, rumors circulated last week that UBS UBS +3.89% is set to cut around 5,000 jobs while rival Credit Suisse CS +5.63% is planning to axe about 1,000 staffers.
And that’s not counting possible forthcoming layoffs we haven’t had confirmed or leaked. Struggling financial stock Bank of America BAC +3.85% surely cannot sustain its work force of nearly 290,000 for much longer without some cost-cutting. Revenue is stagnant, B. of A. stock is in the toilet with a 22% loss year to date and the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t close when it comes to the bank’s balance sheet. Read about 5 big banks going bust on InvestorPlace.com.
full story Why we
Jeff Reeves is editor of InvestorPlace.com.
• More from this author
• Follow Jeff Reeves on Twitter:
Twitter.com/JeffReeves and become a fan of InvestorPlace on Facebook.
Well, we’ve been reading a much different story in the last month or two, with disappointing job creation and a rise in the overall unemployment rate as the meager number of new positions can’t keep up with the sheer volume of folks looking for work.
To make matters worse, we are now seeing a disturbing new spate of layoff announcements — not just a dozen or so workers here and there, but pink slips issued by the thousands at some of the biggest blue chips on Wall Street. Read about 6,500 jobs cut at Cisco.
In short, there aren’t enough jobs to go around now and there will be even fewer jobs a few months down the road. All this points to significantly higher unemployment in the near future, possibly over the 10% mark.
So where will the biggest damage be done? I think these three sectors top the list:
Financial sector layoffs
At the end of June, Goldman Sachs GS +1.77% warned that 230 jobs could be on the chopping block between late September and March 31, 2012. But Goldman’s labor pool should consider itself lucky. Barclays BCS +9.65% announced it will lay off “several hundred” workers this month in addition to the 600 that already were laid off in January. And perhaps most jarring, rumors circulated last week that UBS UBS +3.89% is set to cut around 5,000 jobs while rival Credit Suisse CS +5.63% is planning to axe about 1,000 staffers.
And that’s not counting possible forthcoming layoffs we haven’t had confirmed or leaked. Struggling financial stock Bank of America BAC +3.85% surely cannot sustain its work force of nearly 290,000 for much longer without some cost-cutting. Revenue is stagnant, B. of A. stock is in the toilet with a 22% loss year to date and the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t close when it comes to the bank’s balance sheet. Read about 5 big banks going bust on InvestorPlace.com.
full story Why we
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